Real Estate Report: Virtual reality gives buyers remote control

The virtual reality trend is taking off, from watching movies and playing games to drawing. But these headsets could be used for much more.

“Continually the technology that we're seeing out in the industry is helping real estate and bringing people more information,” said Tom Landry, broker and owner of Benchmark Real Estate in Portland.

He can see this technology coming in handy if a buyer is out-of-state.

“If you think of our buyer pool here in Greater Portland, about fifty percent of our buyers are from away,” Landry said. “If they're going to come up from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, or wherever they're coming from, and come up and see a property, I think it's a very, very useful tool for them to really immerse themselves in that experience."

Landry says the headsets could provide better quality than just pictures and videos online, giving potential buyers a greater sense of a space. And they could also be especially useful in selling properties that haven't even been built yet.

“This was a warehouse space, and originally it was a warehouse for a hardware store, Tommy's Hardware,” Landry said. “So, when you came into this space, it was all wide open, you know, you had to have your vision there and have to be able to see what's not in front of you, it's not actually there."

“I think it's going to help new projects. You think of the condos that are in the market; it'll help with pre-sales of that because people will be able to say, oh, that's what it's going to look like, it's the real material, I'm in that experience.”